Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 745 How to Rescue
Although he agreed to rescue Jinzhou, Yang Sichang also raised a question, which was Huang Taiji's current actions.

It has been a month since Huang Taiji launched the attack on Jinzhou. However, apart from eliminating the Ming army strongholds around Jinzhou and winning over the Subandai Mongolian tribe south of Jinzhou to repel Zu Dashou's troops, Huang Taiji has not officially attacked Jinzhou yet.

For such a long time, Huang Taiji had only been besieging Jinzhou and clearing the area around Jinzhou. This move was clearly a strategy of besieging the city and attacking its reinforcements.

This tactic is not new. Nurhaci used it in the past, and Huang Taiji had used it before. Now he has taken Jinzhou.

Huang Taiji knew clearly that Jinzhou was not so easy to conquer. Jinzhou was an important town built by Sun Chengzong in Liaodong. The purpose of building Jinzhou was to defend instead of attack and suppress the living space of the Later Jin. Therefore, the construction of Jinzhou was very careful. The city wall was not only tall and thick, but also had many artillery and other weapons on the top of the city. In addition, there were a lot of food stored in the city, and there were tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians. As long as Zu Dashou held on, it would not be easy for the Eight Banners to take Jinzhou no matter how strong they were.

It is not that Jinzhou cannot be rescued now, but the question is how to rescue it. If the rescue is carried out from the Liaoxi Corridor to the north, it will be exactly what Huang Taiji wants.

So much time has passed, Huang Taiji must have made arrangements long ago, waiting for the Ming army to arrive. As long as the Ming reinforcements arrive, Huang Taiji's plan to besiege the city and attack the reinforcements will succeed. By then, the Ming army is not as good as the Eight Banners in field battles, and if they are directly defeated or even annihilated by Huang Taiji, not only will Jinzhou be unable to be saved, but even Ningyuan and Shanhaiguan will be in crisis.

"According to Lord Yang, Jinzhou cannot be saved?" Zhang Zhifa frowned and asked back. Yang Sichang kept saying that Jinzhou could not be rescued rashly. What did he mean by that? Was he afraid of Huang Taiji's tactics? Was he just watching Zu Dashou guarding the isolated city without saving it?

If this happened, what would Zu Dashou think? What would the soldiers and civilians in Jinzhou think? If they could not get rescued, what would happen if Zu Dashou had no way to retreat and surrendered in Kaesong? If this was the final result, the consequences would be more serious than the fall of Jinzhou.

"Lord Yang doesn't mean that we can't rescue them, but how to rescue them. If we just send troops to rescue them, what if we fail to save Jinzhou and instead the reinforcements are trapped? This is really not worth the loss." Chen Xinjia explained on the side. Although he had the lowest official position, except for Wang Jinwu, Chen Xinjia knew the most about military affairs among those present. He also had experience serving in border posts and had a lot of say in this matter.

"How can we rescue without sending reinforcements? Can Lord Chen turn beans into soldiers or wave his hand to repel the enemy?" Zhang Zhifa couldn't help but sarcastically said, Chen Xinjia said it lightly, if he wanted to rescue but didn't send troops, could Huang Taiji just withdraw his troops like this? Isn't this nonsense?

"Xiansong! This is a question based on facts!" Wen Tiren interrupted and reminded him that it was fine for Zhang Zhifa to look down on Chen Xinjia, and it was fine if he said this in the court, but now they were discussing the Liaodong war in front of Zhu Shenzhu in the Wenhua Hall, so there was no need to be so aggressive.

Zhang Zhifa also reacted instantly, his expression slightly stiffened, and he subconsciously looked at Zhu Shenzhui. Seeing that Zhu Shenzhui was not angry, he felt relieved.

"Sir Chen, although what Xiansong said just now was unpleasant to hear, it is also the truth. In your opinion, if we send reinforcements to Jinzhou, the siege may trap the reinforcements as well. If we don't send troops, how can we save Jinzhou? Since you said that Jinzhou needs to be rescued, but you don't send troops to rescue it, what exactly does this mean? Can you give me some advice?" Wen Tiren asked kindly, but his words were to the point and he asked directly, and embarrassed Chen Xinjia in front of Zhu Shenzhui.

Yang Sichang's face changed slightly. He had been fighting with Wen Tihen for many years and of course knew that Wen Tihen was not easy to deal with. On the surface, Wen Tihen scolded Zhang Zhifa, but in fact he pointed out that Chen Xinjia had spoken out of turn and hit him hard.

Before Yang Sichang could smooth things over for Chen Xinjia, Chen Xinjia spoke first, angrily: "Prime Minister, when did I ever say that?"

"Sir Chen, although I am not young, my ears and eyes are still sharp. Everyone present heard clearly what you said just now. Could it be that I misunderstood you, Sir Chen?" Wen Tiren asked unhappily.

"That's not what I meant. I just made it clear that saving Jinzhou is not as simple as sending troops to rescue it. The Jiannu are cunning. If we don't make proper arrangements, not only will we fail to save Jinzhou, but we may even sacrifice our reinforcements. We need to be cautious in the Liaodong war."

"Oh, since this is what Lord Chen means, I think Lord Chen has already made a plan in mind. So, please tell me in detail how to rescue us?" Wen Tiren continued to ask with a smile.

Although Chen Xinjia is talented, he cannot compare with Wen Tihen in terms of eloquence. Moreover, Wen Tihen is the Prime Minister, and his status is the highest here except for Zhu Shenzui. The issue of rescuing Jinzhou is under discussion today. Wen Tihen took this opportunity to target Chen Xinjia on the one hand because of his disagreement with Yang Sichang, and on the other hand, he wanted Chen Xinjia to take over the matter and thus remove himself and Zhang Zhifa from it.

Wen Tiren had his own abilities to stand firm in the Ming officialdom, just like he had defeated Chen Xinjia with both defense and fighting. If Chen Xinjia had a good idea, that would be great. Once Zhu Shenzhui agreed, it would have nothing to do with Wen Tiren. If Chen Xinjia couldn't come up with an idea, Wen Tiren could slap Chen Xinjia in the face in front of Zhu Shenzhui. Moreover, Chen Xinjia was Yang Sichang's man and Yang Sichang's right-hand man. This would also make Yang Sichang lose points in front of Zhu Shenzhui.

Chen Xinjia was stunned by what Wen Tiren said. He just explained what Yang Sichang said, but he didn't expect that Wen Tiren would catch his fault and pursue him relentlessly. Now he was pushed into a corner by his words. According to Chen Xinjia's original idea, the Liaodong issue was difficult to resolve and required careful planning. After all, Huang Taiji's arrangement in Liaodong was not so easy to break. If he rushed to rescue, he would not only fail to save Jinzhou, but also trap the reinforcements.

In this situation, Chen Xinjia knew that sending troops directly was extremely risky, but he had to send troops to rescue. If he didn't rescue Jinzhou, would he have to watch Zu Dashou's defeat and Jinzhou fall? To be honest, Chen Xinjia had thought about this matter before he came. He knew the thorny situation, but he couldn't come up with a good solution. But now Wen Tiren was aggressive and lifted himself up, so he had to go back.

Helplessly, Chen Xinjia was silent for a moment, and then spoke of his thoughts. He said that if they wanted to rescue Jinzhou, the first problem was the manpower. Huang Taiji had come out in full force this time, besieged Jinzhou with heavy troops, and made arrangements outside Jinzhou. If the rescue force was insufficient, they would fall directly into Huang Taiji's arrangement, and be besieged by Huang Taiji.

But if the rescue troops are sufficient, it will not be easy for Huang Taiji to besiege the city and attack the reinforcements. In military terms, the premise for implementing the strategy of besieging the city and attacking the reinforcements is to be able to defeat the enemy's reinforcements. But if the reinforcements are strong and have good combat effectiveness, and you cannot defeat them, then this strategy will not work.

According to the news currently coming back from Liaodong, considering the military strength and combat effectiveness of the Eight Banners, it would take at least hundreds of thousands of troops to rescue Jinzhou. Although this number is not small, it is very necessary. You must know that this is a field battle with the Eight Banners, and the Ming army's combat effectiveness in field battles is not as good as that of the Eight Banners. Now there are at least 50,000 to 60,000 Eight Banners troops besieging Jinzhou. In reality, it is still insufficient to go to the rescue with an army of 100,000.

Secondly, we cannot be hasty in rescuing Jinzhou. The Eight Banners' combat style is horse riding and archery, and the Jiannu army is mostly cavalry. They come and go like the wind and are better at attacking the weaknesses of the Ming army while on the move. If they hit the target in one strike, they will pursue them relentlessly, thus tearing open a gap and defeating the Ming army.

After fighting with Jiannu for so many years, the Ming army has suffered a lot of losses in field battles, so this point needs to be paid more attention. Therefore, in the rescue process, you must not rush, but advance slowly and steadily. As long as you don't give Jiannu a chance to take advantage of it, and use the strong strength of the Ming army as a base to form a group, then Huang Taiji will have no way to deal with the reinforcements.

In other words, Chen Xinjia's suggestion is to defend instead of attack, to move forward steadily and without revealing any loopholes, so that Huang Taiji's strategy of besieging the city and attacking the reinforcements will fail. Although this tactic is a bit simple, the key lies in steadiness, and it is the best way at present.

As for Jinzhou, there is no problem for the time being. As long as Zu Dashou does not surrender, Jinzhou's reserves can hold out for half a year without any problems. When the rescue troops arrive in Jinzhou and break Huang Taiji's encirclement, the siege of Jinzhou will be lifted. At that time, the only thing Huang Taiji can do in the face of the large Ming army is to withdraw.

As Chen Xinjia explained his views one by one and emphasized the advantages and disadvantages of both sides, everyone was silent for a while. Even Wen Tiren, who was at odds with Yang Sichang, had to admit that Chen Xinjia's tactic was indeed the most cautious and had the highest chance of success.

But even though the tactics were in place and the plan sounded good, the question was how to execute it? Right now, Liaodong was short of troops. Although the Guanning Army in Liaodong was said to have 100,000 troops, in reality, there were not that many. Moreover, one-third of the troops were in Jinzhou, which was now besieged by Huang Taiji. The remaining troops were stationed in Ningyuan, Shanhaiguan and other places. If all these troops were assembled, not only would they not achieve an absolute advantage in strength, but if problems arose and they were defeated by Huang Taiji, the entire Liaodong would be at risk of being completely lost.

This is a risk that no one dares to take. From this point of view, regardless of whether Jinzhou can be rescued, only a part of the troops can be withdrawn from Liaodong on the Ningyuan and Shanhaiguan front lines, and most of the troops are needed to ensure the defense of various places to avoid the worst situation.

Therefore, the troops to rescue Liaodong had to be drawn from other places, such as the newly reorganized Jizhou Town, or troops from Xuanfu, Datong, Baoding, Shandong and even Henan, to form a reinforcement force to go to Liaodong for the rescue.

It would take more than a few days to mobilize troops to form a rescue army. It would take at least one or two months just to mobilize and assemble them. In addition, there were also issues of logistics and supplies, which also had to be considered. More importantly, who would command such a large army?

Thinking of this, everyone couldn't help but turn their eyes to Wang Jinwu, who had been silent. Logically speaking, Wang Jinwu was the most suitable general to lead the troops. Moreover, Wang Jinwu had previously led the troops to repel Huang Taiji on the Great Wall battlefield. It would be more appropriate for him to be the main general now.

But Wang Jinwu was a military man after all. Even though he was now a noble and trusted by Zhu Shenzhui, he still felt uncomfortable leading the troops. If Wang Jinwu defeated Huang Taiji again and lifted the siege of Jinzhou this time, then Wang Jinwu would completely become the number one man in the Ming army. Even Wen Tihen did not want this result to happen. After all, there is a difference between civil and military affairs. As the prime minister of the Ming Dynasty, he did not want the Ming Dynasty to have such a powerful military general who was trusted by Zhu Shenzhui suppressing him.

(End of this chapter)